George william holder



@auch tntrgatwt @frn 4GEORGE WILLIAM HoLDEN, or oLAnEMo'NT,` NEW HAMPSHIREQASSIGNOR To HIMSELF .AND JAMES 1 UPHAM, or THEsAME'rLAoE.

Letters Patent No. 65,572, dated June Il, 1867.

IMPROVEMENT IN WATER-WHEELS.

TO ALL WHOM IT MAY OONCERN:

i Be it lknown that I, GEORGE W. HOLDEN, of Claremontin the county of Sullivan, and State of New Hampshire, have invented, made, and applied to use a' certain new and useful Improvement in Water-Wheels; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description ofthe said invention, referenceV being had to the annexed drawing, making part of this. specication, wherein- Figure 1 is a sectional plan of my improved wheel. -i i Figure 2 is a vertical transverse section at the line a; a', the shaft e, for elevating the step of the wheel, being in elevation. l

Figure 3 is a plan of the lever to the swinging section of the movable curb.

Figure 4Ais a section of the step and its box at right angles to lig. 2; and

Figure 5 is an inverted plan of a portion of the wheel-buckets. i

Similar marks of reference denote the same parts.

invention relatesv to that class of turbine water-wheels in which a scroll vwater-way is employed with a central discharge-wheel. l

The first part ci' Amy invention relates to a peculiar construction of bucket, in which a. guide is applied at the back of each bucket to direct the water against the face of the next bucket, in order that the impetus and change Aof' direction of the Water-may cause it to act with greater eicieney upon the wheel; I also give to the outer faces of the buckets a reverse curvature, which presents a surface almost at right angles to the movement of the water where it first strikes the wheel. And I form a curve at the lower edge of each bucket, which receives the impact of the water `asl it leaves the wheel without producing any back action or breaking up the continuity of the column of water.

The second part of my invention relates to a movable curb section at the end of the scroll water-way, which forms a gate for preventingobstruction or injury by pieces of wood or other substances getting into the wheel, and thisgate is itted so that it remains rigidly in place, except when pressed back by`a solid obstruction. The gates usually known as club gates, and heretofore used' for the purpose of preventing injury to the wheel by sticks and other substances, have been more or less influenced by the water itself giving motion to them, so that they quickly weariout at the hinges, and drawing into the wheel, cause great damage, and sometimes they `are thrown back by the action of the water, or by an obstruction, and solremain entirely useless. I make use of van indicating lever, that allows of the gate being moved by hand, while the wheel is in motion, ,to free it from sand or any obstruction, or to close it after it has been opened,` and said lever also indicates the position of the gate.

The third part of my improvement relates to the adjustment of the step upon which the wheel rests. Said steps have heretofore been made'movable, and adjusted by the action of a lever, but the parts are left open and exposed to obstruction by sand, and the lever does not act with uniformity on the step, because of the arc described in raising or lowering the lever, causing the stepto press one side or the other of its support. My

invention overcomes this diiculty, and consists in a horizontal shaft that 'acts at one end'through araclr andl pinion, or cam, to raise and lower the step, and is itself acted upon at the other end by a Worm and pinion, o r

other means for rotating said shaft, 'which shaft always occupies one position, and the rack and pinion are sov encased by a peculiar adjustable cap to the step that the parts are protected and the step raised or lowered vertically.

i In the drawing, a is the scroll water-way, at thel throat of which a gate, is applied to regulate the amount of water admitted. c is the vertical shaft of the water-wheel, set upon a step at the bottom, hereafter described, and guided at the tcp in a. journal-box, d, at the upper end of an open cap or conical frame, rising from the top of the Water-way. rI he top and bottom plates of the water-way c are formed with cylindrical openings, within which the Wheel revolves as usual. The head of the wheel is formedl of a couoidal outer portion, e', and with a dat or arching-*central portion, e, `perforated to prevent friction on the step by the vacuum action of the water passing through the wheel.V The wheel is connected to the shaft c by this head e', as seen in lig.. 2. The buckets t' depend from this head e, and they are connected to each other at their lower end by a hoop or band, k.

Each bucket z' is formed with a reverse curvature at the outer portion of the face, as seen in iig. 1 at Z, the `object of this benig to cause the water in the scroll a to act against a surface nearly at right angles to its motion, both in the water-way and while passing in between the buckets, as indicatedl by the arrows; At the back of cach bucket is a guide, as at m; this contracts the space between the outer ends of the buckets, causing the water to be directed in a more solid column against the outer face of the next bucket, until it has done its work, and preventing its discharging too freely immediately behind the bucket. After the water has passed said guide it comes into a space where there is a much more free discharge than couldV otherwise be obtained if the surfaces of the buckets were brought closer together. The space left between the edge of the guide and the surface of the next bucket should be determined according to the quantity and column of water. At the lower endw'of each bucket it is curved backwards, as seen at a, so that the water in passing ,vertically through the wheel, imparts additional force to the wheel by coming into contact with this incline, and at the same time the curvature is not sucient to produce any back action or paddling in passing through the water. p

My movable curb-gate is formed as a continuation of the curb o of thefwater-way a. p is a segmental gate hingedat q. s is a swinging section fastened tightly upon the vertical shaft t, which turns in bearings in the upper and lower plates of the water-Way a. u is a movable curb section hinged at 2 to the swinging section s, and passing in behind the segmental gate p; the back end resting against the vertical side of the gate-box 3, at the side of the Water-way. The shaft t is prolonged above the top of the water-way any desired distance; it: may come up above the door, of the building, or to any other convenient position. At its upper end is a lever, v, that has behind it a spring, 4, and below it a latch or projection resting upon an incline with a notch, 5, to hold it in position, and to give sufficient friction to avoid constant vibration of the parts.; but when an obstruction passes in between the wheel and the movable curb section u, the projection on the lever will slide out of the notch 5, and the parts will move against the pressure of the spring 4 or its equivalent. rIt'will be understood that the gate occupies in its normal condition the position shown in fig.'1; but in case of a stick or other obstruction passing into the wheel, thc movable section will yield, and the swinging section turn as indicated by red lines, and allow such obstruction to pass, thenthe spring 4 to the lever 'u will restore the parts to their normal position, and, if necessary, thelever o and parts can be moved by hand to work any obstruction loose, andthe position of the curb section is indicated at all times by the lever n. .The segmental gate p prevents sand or dirt passing in behind the curb section u, and it also yields back so that the curb sections open as far from the wheel as the inside cf the curb at the hinge g.

The 'shaft c is supported by the step-block zu, that is set in a cup, 6, which may be moved vertically within the cylinder 7. This cylinder 7 has lugs 8 'with set-screws 9, that pass into lugs 10, on tho spider or base y of the Water-way, so as to hold the step and parts. connected therewith down in place. The screws 9 pass through slotted holes, so that a horizontal adjustment of the step may be effected by screws 11, that. pass through the oase 12,y that extends below and is connected to the cylinder 7, said screws 11 acting against the sides of the lugs 10. z is the horizontal shaft that is employed to raise or lower the step w. At the end, within the case 12, the pinion 13 is shown as acting upon the rack 14", for raising or lowering the step, but a cam or eccentric might be substituted for the rack and pinion. At thevouter end this horizontal shaft zfis provided with a pinion, 15, acted upon by the worm 16 on thc vertical shaft 17, that extends above the wheel, and is provided with a hand-wheel or crank, 18. I prefer that the outer end'of the shaft e, and the parts that are connected therewith, be sustained in a case, e', at the side of the curb, but the-shaft e might be supported otherwise and moved bya lever applied at or near its end. The joint action of these parts insures a large amount of power in proportion to the water employed, and theparts are very durable and not subject to obstruction or accident.

What I claim, and desire to secure by Letters, Patent, is-

1. The guides m applied-atthe backs of the buckets of the water-wheel, substantially as and for the purposes specied.

i eel buckets, in `combination with the guides m, at the back and outer ends of' thebuckets, substantially as and for the purposes set forth.

3. I claim the curved lower cdgen of the bucket, in combination with the guide m, substantially as and 4. I claim the movable curved section u hinged to the swinging section s, thatmoves with the shaft ,sub-

stantially as and for thelpurposcs s et forth.

5. I claim the segmental gate p, in combination with the movable curb section u and swinging section s, as and for the lpurposes specified.

GQI claimthc lever v, fitted substantially as specied, in combination with the swinging section s and curb section infor. the purposes set forth. v

' 7. Iclaim a horizontal shaft, c, extending from the' step for the shaft c to the outside of the' water-way, to one end 'of which mechanism is applied to turn the same, substantially as specified, and the other end is itted to act upon the step to raise or lower the same by substantially the means specified.

In Witness whereof I have hereunto set my signature this ninth day of August, A. lD. 1866.

GEORGE WM. HOLDEN.

Witnesses:

H. L. HENDRICK, A. F. WoLcoTr. 

